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I miss Berlin. It was beautiful. Prag is much worse.
This all reads like a retarded child talking with its doll on the floor of some Thuringian Kneipe repeating the conversations it overheard from the bitter pigfaced white trash drunks. The retarded child is just sounding out the words and doesn't even know what any of it means, and it's just kind of a soup of leftover racist gibberish and idiot grievances.
Go into a bar and get introduced to someone and the formula begins… where are you from? I answer England. Him: how long have you been here? I answer several years Tick tick…him… glaring manic mengele eyes… can you speak German? … me: ok, not great… him: I knew a Scottish guy here for years and years and he didn’t speak a word of German. Him: why is London so expensive? Why is architecture so bad in Uk? What about brexit? I know Australians who rent out flats to each other. Gentrification something something… there is a crisis in berlin. Bash UK bash UK blah blah 10 min later I leave not offended but just with the affirmation that all Germans are predictably the same… rude. Which nationality deems it appropriate to start a tirade of putdowns about someone else’s home town / country within the first moment of meeting them. Mate… I’ve just met you. My country isn’t perfect no. But what am I supposed to be … the ambassador for my culture and convince you you aren’t perfect in Germany and maybe if we all just left you would have your perfect little fatherland if no gentrifying Aussies / Americans and Brits were there…?!
Once you know one of them, you know all of them with %99 accuracy
Their obsession with foreigners not knowing German is kind of their way to feel superior over you. In reality, you can get German citizenship with B1 level of German. If you are fluent in English, It is not hard to reach B1 level in a year (at least on the paper) If you work in IT like me, you don't have to know German at all to find a job.
"Which nationality deems it appropriate to start a tirade of putdowns about someone else’s home town / country within the first moment of meeting them. " This is so true and again he / she urges to feel superior as German. This is the behaviour of 4 - 5 years old child by the way.
Nevertheless, I would suggest focusing on your own life / targets and try to find friends among other foreigners. Germans don't worth your time and enery to befriend.
To be fair to him/her, he was trying to communicate in your own language, not his. I would imagine that for someone who uses English as a second language and perhaps doesn't use it everyday building conversation lines in English is not exactly easy. I'm not sure why you were expecting a polite, nuanced interaction in English from someone who has perhaps never even been in your country? I've noticed this many times in Brits (actually English mostly not Scots). You're so far up your butt this you think a foreigner should immediately adopt the same 'politeness rules" you use on your Island.
@above, from someone who has lived in 7 different countries in Asia and Europe, you have no clue what you are talking about. What the German did is rude. And people will try and accommodate you in normal cultures and get to know you without insulting you, it's called hospitality, but Germans are too far up their own butt to know the difference.
i think its possible there is just a bit of a cultural misunderstanding going on. Germans like to get to the point and are very direct and they dont necessarily mean any harm by it. They actually perceive it to be friendly as they are showing interest and they just dont have the self awareness to realise it can be insulting. Berliners have a thick skin and dont have the same expectations about politeness. They see what they mean and mean what they say and there is no reading between the lines or secret agenda. they are not judging you behind your back they just straight up say what they think to your face and expect the same back. It is shocking at first but can also be refreshing
Yep e guy above gets it. Those of you who don't. Read up on positive and negative politeness. Some people find it polite to act (ask, be curious, interact). Other cultures find it polite not to act (do not ask, don't be curious, don't interact). When I lived in the UK (a nation where negative politeness is predominant) I, coming from a country where positive politeness is predominant, found it immensely rude that nobody was curious about my background, nobody asked anything about the political situation of my country, nobody interacted unless drunk. The Germans are like us. They would rather ask "rude" questions than sit there pretending they don't care, because they'd find it rude.
its not opinion it is a factual description about cultural difference. There are completely different expectations about what is okay to talk about and ask. British people have extreme difficulty being direct in order not to offend anyone so they never really ask personal questions. I think British people are also quite judgmental and uptight so we are always maintain a certain distance even to family whereas Berliners are a lot more brash and want to talk details straight away. There just isnt that layer of politeness or that inhibition they just want to know things about you straight away without having to be "formal" by making vague small talk. They just dont see the point and find small talk fake and pointless
You can be to the point but also not ask insulting questions, because you understand that you have boundaries and others too. also its a matter of respect. if someone is insulting you the moment they get to know you and ask extremely insulting questions. they don't respect you. I don't like small talk myself it irritates me. but I am able to talk straight to the point without insulting the other person. it's called interpersonal skills.
I can relate to that. Why the "where are you from" question is given priority over a more charming "how are you doing today" or anything like it is beyond me. It's like Germans need to assess your nationality and race before they can start an interaction that is basically you trying to put you down.
OP here: to the poster earlier who seems to think Brits are /I am up my buttt‘, It is not even about my being British and my island‘s ideas about politeness. Around the world many nations would agree when first meeting someone you should not start by saying negative things about wherever the person comes from. That is the first impression we have of you and you use that moment to complain about the culture/ place we come from?! I am All about getting deep into topics and it is great to get people talking out of their comfort zones but Germans need to learn the art of diplomacy. If you have a 5 minute window to chat someone up in a bar… maybe don’t launch a tirade about someone else’s country. This behaviour is…You don’t like to hear it ….but it is RUDE. I am allowed to have my opinion that on an introduction one shouldn’t insult the other‘s country (btw he had been to my country and it wasn‘t about having a nuanced conversation). If he lacked English language skills, he didn‘t, that still doesn’t give the rationale to start listing the cons of the UK. Another G one time started with „I hate London because…“ Another one „it is a shame your country is going down the pan“ another G: „the way people live there in little houses“ etc … I also do Not Like people walking into my flat and the first q they ask is „how much do you pay here“‘? Similarly I do not like people asking what my salary is (this is becoming acceptable in Britain too for the young generation). Like I said it is my opinion that this is rude. I have a feeling many people regardless of nationality agree with me. Germans are not a polite people, comparatively to the rest of the world, not just my little island.
The comparison of countries is not a uniquely german thing. I am British/Anerican and nearly everywhere I have traveled, I get told how crappy both my countries are and get instructed in the ways the persons country is better. In most cases its an attempt to make themselves feel relevant... in Germany it is done in a manner I also find rude.
This is a reply I just posted, but I think it needs to be re-posted on its own as well. I'm totally at peace now I'm out of Berlin, at least 97% of the time, until something reminds me of khunt rag Borelin and the stupid people who live there. My life now is filled with reasonably balanced, generous, friendly people, you know, the normal human qualities you find in most places. People here actually show appreciation and give generous support for your aspirations and talents, unlike the pathetic jealousy one encounters in Borelin. And of the course the 10% of repetitive nonsense found here, from the phuckwit whose vocabulary consists of "SugerTits", she's never had an original word to write, typical of Borelin. The worst part of Borelin is the rote Leftist propaganda, always with the same parroted replies, never any logic, just virtue-signalling.. The only reason I still write here is to warn others to get out as soon as possible. You will not create worthwhile there, it will drain you of your creativity, intelligence and soul, through constant gaslighting by mediocre dunces, dorks and deadbeats. Again I say, PHUCK YOU BORELIN.
I wonder if elderly people in this city have some sort of deeply-seated anger towards - or perhaps I should say hate for - fellow human beings? I was cycling along the Teltow canal path yesterday, nice wide canal-side path shared by pedestrians and bicycles. I was going at my own pace perhaps a little faster than the usual old people on a bike, but definitely not obnoxiously fast as in middle-aged-man-in-lycra-and carbon-bike fast. At some point in front of me the here's these three old Berliners, riding abreast, taking the whole path, leisurely cycling and chit-chatting, not a care in the world. Great, but how about some room for other people to go through. I quickly give one (1 ring of my bell. The c*nt on the right stops chatting, but pretends not to hear. I ring once more. She gets closer to her mates, but as I squeeze through she just goes in rage mode against me, as if I had literally decided to sit on her couch uninvited and take a sh*t. I distinctly heard the word 'schwein' (swine)? ''Lassen wir dieses Schwein durchgehen'. Just go phuck yourself old, unphucked bitch. A swine? Just because I also wanted to use the road? Thing is, these little accident, this complete lack of manners, this utter lack of spatial awareness in public is just so common, especially with the elderly. Why do they completely ignore the presence of other people sharing the city with them? Same on the u-bahn platform, elevators, stairs, shops. They'd rather you bump onto them than move or adjust their path to accommodate the flow of people. Honestly I think many old people in this city have mental health problems. Sometimes I wonder if people still have deeply rooted inside the same tiny seed of anger that bursted some 90 years ago into you-know-what (aided of course by cultural/economic factors). I have not seen people living their life this way anywhere else I've been in the world.
It is not just Berlin or old people. Since the moment they start walking, they have no spatial awareness in public. I don't know why but this is the fact. They just stand still on the sidewalks and talk without being bothered to make space for you to pass, they block enterances of shops, trains, buses... The other thing is when they get into bus, they don't move in the bus. They just stand still by the door.
I think, this is the reflection of being selfish and lack of having empathy.
I think the comment above is spot on. Another piece in the depressing puzzle of their behavior is that they are not trained to think in anything but abstractions. They would happily discuss the importance of behaving in a politely and being considerate of others--that's a really top tier Spas conversation for them in fact. But it's all an abstraction and they are unable to assess a situation in front of their eyes and then improvise how to act in a way that fits their worldview. So unless they are given a list of rules to memorize, such as "do not stop at the bottom of the escalator/exit of the train/bus/tram to think about which direction to go but rather step to the side so you don't bother those behind you" they lack the critical thinking skills to figure it out on their own in the moment. It needs to be explained to them and rules provided. Otherwise it's all just an abstraction and they'll never connect the dots between that and their own behavior.
Worst thing about Berlin is all the doner burgers and poop pizza and vietnamese food like WHY are there no other options for a cheap takeaway meal?????? Why???
I think the worst part is the quality of the food which is very poor. Indian Chicken Tikka is not even grilled. most Thai curries are just bland and from a pre-made paste pack and extremely watery. Food here in restaurants is so far from authentic. I for the life of me cannot find proper dumplings or Nepalese momos. Pizza is bleh. Doner probably came from some mafia ring using human meat. Berlin has some of the worst food I've eaten. Forget proper Haan Chinese or Cantonese food. Or a nice kafta. Even the Sushi is drab. Miso soups are from a packet.
Anyone who eats meat in Berlin, needs their head read. So many meat scares and still they line up for their pox-ridden, boring doners. Doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner, doner. Berlin is one big bore.
Ten years of my life wasted in that phucking khunt of a place. The thought of ever going back there, sends shivers down my spine. So good to be away from the leftist moronic vitrue-signalers who WELCOMED 'REFUGEES', and now complain that they can't afford their rent. PHUCK YOU, PHUCK YOU, PHUCK YOU BERLIN, YOU PATHETIC, PRETENTIOUS EXCUSE FOR A CITY, PHUCK YOU FOR ALL THOSE YEARS I'LL NEVER GET BACK, I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT WHORE'S KHUNT RAG.
Idiot failchildren with a messianic complex and superglue.
Is it some kind of Islamic holiday today? Seems like all the Muslim women have their heads wrapped up like womb slaves for their manlet husbands and fathers today. Usually only a small minority of them are wearing that garbage. Is their a reason for this or did someone issue a new decree or just a new shipment of them came in or what?
But really, why are so many of them wrapped up all of a sudden? Or am I just imaging it's more? I try to be minimize my disgust at it by thinking of them as letterboxes, even though it was that idiot Boris Johnson who said that, instead of just as stupid womb slaves for hysterical men with micropecker complexes as the basis of their entire culture and religion and personalities.
It's a big pile, and a lot of them--like the Erdogan scum--have their little micropeckers precumming in their sweatpants for fascism. Then the Schweinebauch Germans see that and their old fascist tendencies start coming back out too. Letzte Generation got their name right anyway.
You're going to lose more money than gaining in this scam city shhithole.
Berlin is getting worse and even dirtier for years. Berliner are most very unfriendly and dont know how to behave. I strongly advice not to come to Berlin. Berlin is failed state with lot of quite left people, alcoholics and drugpersons.This City is really the worst in Germany full a alternatives and young people with strange cloth. In some regions nobody speaks german any more and prices are like in Munich What i experienced here in the last weeks is really unbelivable. Everybody should the truth about Berlin. The City is rathole for idiots, leftradicals and failed individuells. Its not worth to live here.
I'VE BEEN TRYING TO EDUCATE THE BERLIN MORONS FOR YEARS ABOUT THE DANGERS OF THE YOUNG MARXIST IDIOTS, BUT NO ONE LISTENED, NOW IT'S A MULTI-KULTI HELLHOLE GHETTO AND WILL ONLY BECOME MORE THIRD WORLD THAN THE THIRD WORLD. LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL HAVE YOUR SANITY. THEY WILL GASLIGHT YOU INTO A LUNATIC ASYLUM.
This is a typical experience. Every time I have been to an ATM and there was one person going there just before me and they are there 10 seconds looking at the screen and then move away, they fail to tell me it isn’t working. It’s common courtesy. You can say it in Krautspeak or even signing and we will get it. But they knowingly let you go there and find out too. Same scenario when a door is locked / or a lift doesn’t work. They let you make the same mistake, I.e. an exit is closed in the ubahn and someone found it out and is walking towards you … they never inform you. Everywhere else in the world people would gesture, or say not to bother walking there if people were approaching. Here they are too selfish and inconsiderate. Or their schadenfreude instincts kick in and they want you to suffer cos why should they be the only person inconvenienced.
My favorite is when they get to the front of some long line--and, as we know, almost all the lines are long and slow here--and then they suddenly become the main character in their boring little German soap opera, chit chatting with the cashier and telling a regaling story about how they're going to eat some onions or watch netflix this weekend and isn't that exciting and interesting. Meanwhile, everyone else waits and steams about it, and then if they're German when it's their turn they do the exact same thing. They also never seem to know where their money is when it's time to pay. Is it their first time going to a store and they're just surprised that you have to pay at some point? Or is it some kind of performance anxiety?
Is the UK better? Thinking of moving there.
If you like apple-shaped women with yellow/brown crooked teeth and if you like earning 60K Pounds per year for a senior manager position, do consider moving. The fish & chips are good though. Beer is served mostly lukewarm, no bubbles. Houses are mostly made of bricks, poorly insulated, damp, and you will hear your neighbour humping his beautiful wife and taking a dump, every day of your life. Groceries are expensive, fruit and vegetables taste of nothing, they make tomatoes for sale at Rewe taste delicious. Forget summers and 35 Celsius in August. Summer is 2 weeks to 1 month, 25 degrees or so, unless you live in London (you shouldn't) or Brighton or somewhere around Kent. If you have kids, make sure to catch up on the class system, and to dish for good private schools, because public education sucks, and if they end up going to state school they'll have no chance in life. Having said that, if you like the outdoors, the UK (Scotland especially) is spectacular. The pooping lakes and forests surrounding Berlin are every grimmer and more sad than they actually are if you've experienced the Cairngorms or the Trossachs. Ah one more thing: Indian food is fecking amazing in the UK. Yep but women look weird: apple shaped. Look it up.
But, they make up for it in humour, art, literature, dance, music and repartee. And the ones who aren't apple shaped, are absolutely drop dead gorgeous. But way too multi-kulti. Most of the English people have left London and that's why it's now like an urban-jungle, third world ghetto. And it will only get worse. You can take the Indian out of India, but you can't take the Indian out of the Indian. Ditto for Africans.
London, like Berlin, New York, LA and Paris, are over, you missed the boat.
Hurensohn Drecksdeutsche Florian and Stefan and Moritz
Yes, I can't count the number of times I've been walking down the street and these German parrots are all saying "your father is Ahmed, your father is Ahmed." Not an original thought in their heads. A choir of sheep. I saw a well-dressed elderly man who was knocked over by two young Arab lads who were riding down Kurfürstendamm on an escooter, rubbing privates and laughing vibrantly, and the old man, lying on the ground, yelled that their father was Ahmed. Then at Nollendorfplatz I saw a beautiful drag queen talking vivaciously with a huge German man with a golden cocaine spoon around his neck who looked like a boar, and the queen laughed really loudly, slapped the boar on the chest and shrieked out "your father is Ahmed you ugly piece of Schittt!!!" and they both nearly fell down in stitches. Most recently, at the Auslanderbehorde, I walked past an office where a wicked-looking bureaucrat tore up some poor guy's papers while shrieking like some bird from hell that "your father is Ahmed!" Thing is, the guy didn't even look like an Arab. I think he was maybe from Peru or Bolivia or something. It's really out of control, this whole Ahmed situation. Like Beatlemania or something.
I earn "good salary" for German standards as Stufe 1 taxpayer. 3150€ is the exact amount. I completed my masters in Germany and have been working in IT at global company for more than 5 years. My only advantage is living in mid size city and I pay reasonable amount of money for rent + fixed costs. It is surely enough to live okay. I am not complaining but the point is, If I decide to enjoy the life by deciding to do more than just covering my fixed costs + feeding myself, It is impossible to save money in this country. I don't know who decided to establish this amazing system in this country but no matter how skillful and hardworking you are, you just can't earn enough to enjoy the life comfortably.
Are all of these people okay to live from paycheck to paycheck? Or is the government so generous to pay out money to people? Seriously, I can't see any point to keep living and working in this country
OP here. Yes, It is after tax and I am not complaining as I wrote. I pay 815€ monthly for warm rent + electric + phone + internet + monthly streaming services, insurance. 500€ is my fixed saving. 1315€ is being paid without touching It. 1836€ is my disposible income. I have 61€ daily allowance to live my life. Is It too much? For Germany, yes but this is the point I am trying to tell. With that disposible income, - as high skilled person - (this is what governments tell) what can I do to enjoy my life beyond drinking couple beers in the Kneipe? If I would travel, going out etc. I have to live from paycheck to paycheck.
You think it's bad now, wait until AI, then Universal Basic Income take over from work and wages. You'll be forced into government housing and your money will spread just enough to survive. "You will own nothing, but you will be happy". Thnaks Klaus, our great benefactor. Oh, by the way, if you're German, the last part was irony, sorry, it's too hard to explain to a German.
Take this advice. Every Sunday, go to Mauer Park and mingle with tourists, both in the flea market and the park, and have fun, listen to a few bands, take in some outdoor karaoke, eat at the food trucks, sit on the hill and watch the sun set. But, whatever you do, don't tell Berliners you are going to spend your day surrounded by happy people, they warn you off it with their standard unimaginative answer "Oh I don't like Mauer Park, it's too crowded". They'll then go to a crowded nightclub. I despise, loathe and hate Berlin and everything it stands for, especially the leftist sheep, who all say exactly the same things, expected of them by the thought-police. FUCKKKK YOU BERLIN, YOU TOOK AWAY SOME OF THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE. Berlin-Cool is 100% total BS, it's a city full of leftist brainwashed imbeciles, and speech fascists, the new-brown-shirts. Get out while you can, before it drags you down into the abyss, with it. BERLIN IS OVER, has been for at least 7 years. It's the new boring SillyCon Valley of Europe.
I mostly agree with you on this, ST, and this is maybe the first post of yours I've upvoted. The markets and open spaces filled with people hanging out doing whatever is one of the few remaining good things about this city. Usually best to avoid getting within earshot of most of those people because they're probably just doing the Berlin babble thing and talking about how they're thinking about trying out a different pronouns to increase their confidence and raise awareness of their personal brand or whatever, but if you keep a safe distance and ideally go with your own friends these spaces are the best thing going on on the weekends.